WSOP 2008
Shorr Silences Minneapolis Meehan
by Crystal on 06.25.08, 12:47 am
As the PLO8 field continues to drop, some of the players have been rather annoyed with the antics of Minneapolis Jim Meehan. He has been seen standing up and walking around and talking (rather loudly) to just about anyone who will listen. At one point security was almost brought in when Meehan put a cigarette in his mouth and lit a lighter, looking like he was going to light the cigarette. He smiled and laughed and sat back down without lighting the cigarette as on-lookers rolled their eyes.
Meehan also seems to be in need of a good pair of women’s jeans. He asked a P5s reporter where she got her jeans and when he was told it wasn’t anywhere near Las Vegas he said “Well that’s too far to drive! I’m 0 for 2 today. The other girl I asked got her jeans somewhere far away too. I just want to drive to a place that’s like 1.6 miles away!” While we’re not sure why Meehan is looking for women’s jeans, it made for some interesting conversation. After a tournament director asked him to speak more quietly, Meehan said he would be quiet for one hour but that won’t be necessary now that Shannon Shorr has knocked Meehan out. Shorr (pictured left) flopped a set which held against Meehan’s nut low draw that never materialized and Meehan was sent to the rail.
Dan “Stainley88″ Adams (pictured right) put another player at risk for all his chips preflop with Adams holding the K
K
4
2
against the all in player’s AA-X-X. The other cards, which pocket fives couldn’t catch, were far less important than the aces as the all in player made quads on the board of AQ5AT to double up.
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin was also spotted trying to knock a player out holding the 6532 against the all in player’s AT85. The board ran out T7437 and Venegrin took the high with his spade flush while the other player’s A-5 was good enough for a 7543A low to take the other half of the pot.
There are currently 126 players remaining but only the top 72 will make the money. Other players still in contention are Eric “Rizen” Lynch, Garrett “GBecks” Beckman, Matt “SamENole” Smith, and Chris “SKOAL” Falconer.
Stalemate in the O8
by Jill on 06.24.08, 10:25 pm
Minutes ago, players ceased for their 90-minute dinner break in Event #43, the $1.5K Pot Limit Omaha 8 tournament. Prior to their refueling opportunity, several PocketFivers remained patient and waiting for the right opportunity to make a move.
We caught up with Chris “SKOAL” Falconer (pictured at left), who guarded a stack of 8,600 and reported that he’d had three times to move up the count to 20K but was rivered or had to fold. He explained that his earlier run in the tournament had him down to nearly fumes, but the key to his ongoing success in the WSOP has been patience, patience, patience. Though the average stack at the start of the break was a hair over 12K, Chris remained optimistic about his chances as he doubled up in the last level.
Meanwhile, Eric “Rizen” Lynch was checking down the river when we visited his table after what looked like some aggressive preflop action in the pot. His opponent was quite surprised when his hand held and Eric threw his cards to the dealer; Eric claimed to muck A-K, but didn’t hit a thing on the board. His patience was paying off as his stack rose to an above-average 13K.
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman, however, was not content to stay out of the line of fire and was getting nowhere fast. PocketFives found Garrett with a 9K stack, seated at a table across from a big-stacked Joe Hachem. When Garrett was in the big blind for 400, the cutoff limped and the player on the button made it 1,800. Garrett sighed as he folded. The next hand, from the small blind Garrett saw four players limp in, including Hachem. He completed the blind and the board came 3J8. Two early players checked, the third short stack moved in for almost all his chips, and Hachem called. Again, Garrett folded to the action and forfeited his blinds while the short stack chopped the pot with Hachem.
However, the next hand on the button, the same early short stack moved in, one opponent called, and Garrett raised to a total of 6,200. He flipped over AA79 to his opponent’s 2-3-8-6. The board ran out 34257 and Garrett doubled his opponent up. His stack was down to 5.5K — about the same as he held an hour ago.
Regardless of the loss, Garrett fared much better than other players of note who were recently eliminated: Rolf Slotboom and Stu “TheDonator” Patterson recently took their leave. As of the break, here are chip counts for those still fighting:
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 26K
Dan “Stainley88″ Adams - 20K
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin - 15K
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 13K
Chris “SKOAL” Falconer - 8.6K
Shannon Shorr - 8.5K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 5.5K
Fair Day for Blair
by Brett on 06.24.08, 9:10 pm
Blair Rodman was just seen leaving the Rio, and we got the news that his day in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event has ended. Sitting with nearly 3K, Rodman (pictured right) got it all in preflop with A652 against AA86. The board ran out 9957T, giving his opponent a straight. Rodman’s bid at his second-ever Omaha Hi/Lo final table at the World Series came up short.
Two-hundred thirty-six of the original 720 players are still going strong. With the average stack at 9K, here’s a look at some notable chip counts in Event #43:
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin - 13K
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 13K
Shannon Shorr - 6K
Dan “Stainley88″ Adams - 5.5K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 5K
Chris “SKOAL” Falconer - 4K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 2.8K
We’re down to three players at the final table of the $1,500 Mixed Hold’em event. Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo is third in chips, but fighting back after making a fantastic call-down with king-high in the limit round. He has 200K chips; Nick Binger has 1.4 million and Frank Gary has 300K.
In the Passenger Seat
by Brett on 06.24.08, 7:47 pm
The five remaining players at today’s $1,500 Mixed Hold’em event final table have just returned from a 20-minute break and the the race to catch Nick Binger begins. Binger has over 1.3 million chips – more than half of the chips in play – and has single-handedly eliminated every player so far at the final table. Meanwhile, Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo sits patiently with 316K, good for second most at the table while the other three players hover around 200K.
Eric “Rizen” Lynch (13K), Shannon Shorr (8K), Chris “SKOAL” Falconer (7.7K) and Garrett “GBecks” Beckman (6.5K) are some of the notables still in today’s $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event. Almost 400 of the original 720 players have been eliminated, including bracelet winner Scott “BigRiskky” Clements (pictured left), who got all of his chips in preflop with KK32 and lost to a player’s aces just before the tournament went on a 20-minute break.
Engel Doubles in Event #43
by Brett on 06.24.08, 6:19 pm
“BodogAri” Engel has doubled his chip stack to nearly 4K — just short of the average — in Level 3 of the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event. With the blinds at 75/150, Engel (pictured right) raised to 525 preflop with AK82 and a player in late position called. The flop came J85 and Engel quickly moved his last 1300 chips in and was called. We didn’t catch the hand of the other player, but Ari’s hand held when the Q and J filled the board and Engel was given new life. Eric “Rizen” Lynch is also seated at Engel’s table and has 5,000 chips.
Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke, kyle “kwob20″ Bowker and Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski were all eliminated in the past hour. Unfortunately for Bogdanski, the new haircut apparently did not do the trick for him today. Gary and his opponent were all-in on a board reading Q-3-2-9 and Bogdanski turned up his A-Q-4-7 and quickly learned he was behind the other player’s A-A-2-5. Another 9 on the river failed to bring a qualifying low for Gary to get half the pot and the other player won with his pair of aces.
More than 200 players have already exited Event #43. Here are some unofficial chip counts coming back from break:
Brett “Gank” Jungblut - 9K
Stewart “StuMan123″ Yancik - 6.5K
Chris “SKOAL” Falconer - 5.5K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 5.5K
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 3K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 3K
Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier - 3K
Dag Martin “dmmikkel” Mikkelsen - 1.2K